Tacky or tasteful, festive or frightful? Whatever your opinion, December is bursting with light in so many ways, from the comfort of your home to the largest attractions in every city. We’re here to give you ideas on how to make the most of lighting this festive season, whatever your aspiration!

Over the past couple of years, the latest rage for the festive period is festivals of light – Kew Gardens and Bleinheim Palace spectacularly illuminate their grounds and buildings with impressive laser shows and dazzling light tunnels, creating a magical pathway through their stunning grounds.

Similarly, Lumiere festival expanded south into London in 2016 lighting up the capital city’s top attractions and sights with the designs of local artists, from freestanding light structures to neon shapes. It is clear the trend is growing year on year and it really is a powerful way of using lighting to showcase beauty of structures and art in a breathtaking and festive way.

Although light festivals truly are fantastic and jaw-droppingly brilliant… they’re not very achievable in the home, so we’ve listed 5 different ways you can maximise your lights this Christmas.

1) Be creative!

Outdoor Christmas lights don’t have to be the traditional reindeer flashing lights you see on the sides of houses or roofs… why not get some star shaped lights or light up pebble floors to guide guests through the garden to your front door. Another current trend is archways in gardens, so if you have one, definitely utilise this and get some lights feeding through it to achieve a real ‘wow’ factor!

2) Make an impact

Have a centerpiece light? Make the most of it by wrapping fairy lights around the piece to illuminate the entire room and draw people’s attention to your spectacular light!

3) Create an illusion of a larger space

Get a range of mason jars and fill them with battery powered fairy lights – scatter them around the room to create the feeling of a larger space by spreading the light in the room, try having them at different heights as well. What makes it so great? It can be achieved with any size jars, in any size room!

4) Make the most of a small space

Displaying Christmas cards is not a new concept, but why not have your cards dangle from some fairy lights? Display the lights so they span the width of your widest wall, and safely clip cards on between each light. To really enhance the space, if you have a mirror on the opposite wall, this will well and truly maximise the use of your limited space with the reflection creating an illusion.

5) Create a homely feel

You can use Christmas lights throughout the entire house, and one way of achieving this is to run lights down your stairs – weaving in and out from top to bottom. To give it that extra homely feel, go for warm white lights.

We hope we’ve inspired you to utilise the light in your home this Christmas. If you’ve got any other great ideas, get involved on our Facebook page, and if you want to find out more about how we use light in our projects visit the gallery on our website.